win2000 pc not detecting usb external hard drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter rb
  • Start date Start date
R

rb

I've just pressed an old pc into service, and it's running one of my
favorites: Win2000.

Got everything working except one USB device.

I've added a 4 USB port pci card to supplement the two USB ports that came
with the pc.

I have a printer, monitor, and external USB hard drive plugged into the pci
card strip. The printer and monitor work fine. The USB external hard drive
is not detected.

I also tried the external USB hard drive in one of the two original USB
ports. Not detected there either.

I switched the USB hard drive to my other pc next spot over, and it works
fine on it.

What should I check????
 
rb said:
I have a printer, monitor, and external USB hard drive plugged into the pci
card strip. The printer and monitor work fine. The USB external hard drive
is not detected.

I also tried the external USB hard drive in one of the two original USB
ports. Not detected there either.

I switched the USB hard drive to my other pc next spot over, and it works
fine on it.

What should I check????
Click to expand...

Is the drive powered from the USB bus or does it have its own power
supply? Some usb installations don't give enough power to USB HD's.
 
Good point. My USB external hard drive has it's own 110v power cord, if
that's what you're asking.
 
rb said:
Good point. My USB external hard drive has it's own 110v power cord, if
that's what you're asking.
Click to expand...

Yes, that was what I meant. So, assuming it was plugged in at the time
(believe me I've been there :-) ), power doesn't seem to be the problem.

I presume that somewhere along the way, you rebooted the "faulty"
machine just in case. The only other thing I can suggest is that you
power down, unplug all other usb devices, reboot and try again.

That and try another cable.
 
Well, turns out it was a hard to see loose plug connection that was the
culprit. Glad I found that, as I was in the process of going nuts as to
what the heck was wrong. Nothing made sense until I just happened to wiggle
the signal cable coming out of the external usb hard drive.

Thanks for the thoughts.
 
rb said:
Well, turns out it was a hard to see loose plug connection that was the
culprit. Glad I found that, as I was in the process of going nuts as to
what the heck was wrong. Nothing made sense until I just happened to wiggle
the signal cable coming out of the external usb hard drive.
Click to expand...

Glad you found it. I had the same thing with a small (laptop) drive USB
drive. The connector at the drive end was flaky. Wiggling the cable
would give intermittent contact. Swapping the cable didn't help - it was
the connector itself. Miniaturised to the point of being delicate as is
so often the case these days.
 
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